History of the competition

In 2017, Greater Manchester Magistrates’ Association was awarded a Patron’s Grant to run a pilot Mock Trials competition for Year 6 pupils. (Our Patron was HM Queen Elizabeth II.)

This was the first time that such a competition had taken place in the north west of England.

The first event took place on the 30th June 2017, at the Friend’s Meeting House in central Manchester. Ten schools from across Greater Manchester took part, and the day was such a resounding success that it was decided to make this an annual competition. 2026 will be our nineth year for holding this event. We only missed out in 2020 due to lockdown, and even did it by Zoom in 2021, due to covid.

The competition provides an opportunity for the pupils to work as a team and to demonstrate their abilities in verbal reasoning, as well as gaining valuable experience of speaking in public.

In 2018, we were able to obtain funding from our generous sponsors to help contribute towards the travelling expenses for schools who would not otherwise have been able to attend, and we are delighted that this is something that we have been able to continue to offer at future events.